Series: Taken
Part: Six - Taken Light part 1
Word Count: 2605
Characters: The staff of Torchwood Three, The Doctor, Donna Noble.
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst!!! Drama. AU.
Warning: Spoilers up the Adrift and slight character death and suicide.
Disclaimer: Alas the Torchwood character's are not mine, they belong to other more fabulous people. Which makes me sad.

Un-beta'ed, sorry. Any and all mistakes are my own (i'm known as the typo queen around friends), and i apologize for them.

Authors Ramble: Two posts in one day, no way! Yes it's true, and i want to apologize for taking so long to post the last few chapters of Taken. But now that i'm back, they will get posted asap. Now it has been pointed out to me that i am one sick bastard at times with twisted ideas, which just makes me laugh. But to be fair, i figured i'd warn you. There is a fair amount of talk about suicide in this chapter, but it's not for gratuitous reasons. It actually does serve a purpose, and it's nothing too horribly distasteful. So yes, there ya go, you have been warned. Oh and i also had someone ask where are the quotes from at the start of each chapter, well they're all from songs that i felt fitted the chapter as i wrote it out. I'll post a list of where they're from with the very last chapter, but not before then since there's still two more to go ^_^

Summary: Jack was sure that the Rift was out to muck up his life completely.



- Is devotion a gift of a thief -
Do you wish i'd let you go


It had been weeks, and the Torchwood team were just as stumped as they had been the first day that Jack had blown himself away in his office. After Jack had explained what had apparently happened, Tosh got on her computer straight away trying to find out where exactly the slave trading post might have been. But considering they didn't know what planet it was on, or even what galaxy it was in, finding it ended up being harder than first expected. Owen looking into possible ways to draw Ianto's spirit back into his body, but once again it proved more difficult then they had thought.
Gwen tried to track down any similar crystals, but came up empty handed. Leave it to Gwen to worry about other people that might have been trapped.

But with each dead end that the four came upon, the more the frustrated they became. Jack had gone to speak to Ianto so many times, that it had actually become somewhat common for him to be found dead. It had gotten to the point where the team would just leave him where he fell, stepping around Jack as they went on with their research.
After the first few weeks of Jack's suicides, Owen finally yelled at him about the messes he kept leaving behind. Informing the older man that they were no longer cleaning up his blood and brain matter. After that, Jack started to use one of the empty cells for this morbid little trips.

"I don't get it!" Jack said, standing in the conference room staring at all the bits of information they had managed to scrape up. Gwen had stuck everything up on one of the large windows, including complete word by word transcripts from Jack of his conversations with Ianto. "We've got zip!" He tossed his hands up in frustration, turning away from the paper ladened window.

"That's not true." Gwen said.

"No, he's right. We've got fuck all." Owen said from where he sat with his feet up on the long table that sat in the middle of the room.

"Thank you very much Owen, i was just trying to be...."

"Quixotic?" He offered.

"Optimistic." She replied firmly.

Jack grunted in annoyance at his two staff members, flopping down in his chair at the head of the table.

"You sure there's nothing else Ianto can add?" Tosh asked as she idly flipped through one of Jack's transcripts.

"I'm sure." Jack said, rubbing his forehead.

"Headache still?" Gwen questioned when she saw his movements.

"Yeah."

Owen laughed, tossing a paper airplane across the table that landed in front of Tosh, who just brushed it away without even looking up. "Well that's what you get from being Shooty McBrain matter for six weeks." The doctor snipped sarcastically. It bothered him how much Jack had taken to seeing Ianto, and had warned the man that immortal or not, what he was doing was absurdly unhealthy and could eventually leave lasting damage.

Jack just rolled his eyes at Owen, having heard the man's concerns a million times before.

"Jack." Tosh asked, looking up finally. "I think we should..."

"No." Jack cut her off, not wanting to hear Tosh's argument yet again.

"But."

"I said no Tosh."

"What are you two squawking about?" Owen asked.

"I think Jack should call the Doctor again, but he refuses."

"Tosh, i already told you. He's been here twice in the past year and a half, i'm not bothering him again."

"You just don't want to hear what he has to say." The woman challenged.

"Why wouldn't you want to hear what he has to say?" Gwen asked.

"Because there's a very good chance that he'll swan in and tell us there's nothing we can do." Tosh said. "And that's not something Jack wants to hear."

Both Owen and Gwen looked at Jack when Tosh finished speaking, only to see him staring at the other woman in an annoyed manner. It was true, the last thing Jack wanted to hear was what he had thought to himself many times in the past weeks. Every time they hit another dead end, every time a lead fell flat. What if it wasn't possible, what is he really did have to let the young Welshman go.

Jack's head snapped up suddenly when he heard the familiar sounds of the TARDIS's engines. "Toshiko!" Jack snapped angrily. To which the petite woman just shrugged nonchalantly.

"I called Martha this morning, i didn't think he'd get here so soon."

"I told you not to bother him." Jack said loudly.

"Oh it's no bother, really." The Doctor said in a cheery voice as he entered the room with Donna in tow. "I've always got time for you Jack." He beamed, taking a seat next to Gwen and propping his feet up on the table much like Owen had his.

"Honestly, just swans in here like he owns the place doesn't he?" Donna said with a smile, before taking the seat that Owen had idly pulled out for her.




"That's just, just brilliant!" The Doctor exclaimed as he stood in front of the paper covered window. He was looking over everything excitedly, thick framed glasses perched on his nose. "I mean, really really brilliant!" He said, looking over his shoulder at Jack.

It had only taken Tosh about thirty minutes to explain everything to the new arrivals before the Doctor popped up to read over the things on the window. "This is positively mad." He said, snatching one of the transcripts from the mess of stuck up papers. "And you've committed suicide how many times?" He questioned, sitting back down.

"Eighty-six." Owen piped up, sounding more than a little unimpressed.

"Hmmm, that's about twice a day for what, six weeks?" The Doctor said in an offhanded manner as he scanned over the paper in his hands.

"About." Jack nodded.

"Bonkers." Donna muttered.

"You're telling me." Owen smirked.

"You could cause lasting damage you know." The eccentric Time Lord said, looking up at Jack.

"Ha!" Owen snapped.

"Oh, i take it you've told him this already?"

"Of course, but you think he'd listen." Owen huffed.

"Yes, highly doubtful he would." The Doctor said, staring at the Captain over the rim of his glasses.

"Oh you both can save it." Jack said in a tired manner, not wanting to hear either doctor bitch at him about his constant self inflicted deaths.

"You said he came out of this?" The Doctor asked suddenly, abrupt subject changes were a common thing around him. He reached over the table top and pulled the dull grey crystal shards close to him.

"Yes." Tosh confirmed.

The Doctor hummed, picking up one of the larger pieces and looking it over. He eventually sniffed it, and then to the surprise of only three of the people in the room, he licked it. Owen, Tosh and Gwen all pulled faces.

"He does that." Both Jack and Donna said at the same time.

"Hmm, basic quartz compound. Nothing remarkable, but oh they must have had some technology to to what they did." He grinned in a goofy fashion.

"Do you know who did it?" Gwen asked.

"No." The Doctor answered simply.

Jack eyed his friend suspiciously, not believing him one bit.




"Ok, what do you know?" Donna asked the Doctor later on when everyone had scattered throughout the hub. Gwen had offered to run out to get take away, and Tosh was currently in the kitchen making tea. Owen, who had gotten tired of sitting around doing nothing had turned to one of his video games. And Jack had needed to take a call that had come in, which left the Doctor and his companion alone in the large conference room.

"What makes you think i know anything?"

"You always know something." Donna said, giving him a 'duh' sort of look.

"Yeah Doctor, what do you know?" Jack's voice rang out from behind them, causing both to turn around. Jack was standing in the doorway, leaning against the jam. Apparently that call was a very short one.

"Like i told Donna, i don't know anything."

"Oh don't give me that crap! You know who did this don't you?" Jack questioned as he walked farther into the room, his voice accusatory. The other man just raised his eyebrows at Jack, saying nothing at all. "Tell me dammit!"

"Jack." The Doctor said calmly. "I'm not going to tell you. Because you'll go in, typical Torchwood fashion. With guns blazing all cowboy style like a John Wayne flim, and extract some bloody and archaic revenge." Jack glared at him darkly. "I'm sorry, but no. I'll help you get your friend back, but that's all. You're not going to start a war, not while i'm here."

Donna watched as the two men seemed to have a stare down, Jack silently fuming at the Doctor's self righteous stubbornness. Never in all her life had she been so happy to see tea as she was when Tosh walked in carrying a tray of tea and biscuits, essentially cutting off whatever silent war the two had been having. "Oh wonderful!" The Doctor beamed when she saw Tosh. "It's been so long since i had a proper cuppa." Tosh just smiled, not even noticing Jack storm out of the room.




"If only we could figure out a way to send something into the dark to bring him back with." Tosh said thoughtfully an hour later as they all tucked into the couple of pizzas that Gwen had picked up. They were once again back in the large conference room, seated around the large table.

"Like another crystal?" Gwen asked.

"Yes."

"Yeah but you can't take anything with you, you have no actual solid form there. I've died thousands of times, and each time it's always the same. Whatever you died with, like on your person, whether it's a wallet, keys, a gun. None of it's there. So it's not like you could just stick another stone in my pocket, shoot me in the head and say go get him." Jack said.

"No that wouldn't been too easy, now wouldn't it." The Doctor quipped as he dug into his sixth slice of pizza. He had apparently forgotten the pure wonder that was the pizza pie, and was truly enjoying reminding himself.

"Wait a minute, if everything you have on you is gone when you die. Does that mean you're walking around oblivion naked?" Donna asked suddenly, causing everyone to look at her. "What?" She asked.

"That's a very good point Donna." The Doctor said around a mouthful of food. "But if that's true, it would make sense as to why Jack likes it there so much." He grinned widely at Jack, who in turned just rolled his eyes.

"No, no you're dressed." Owen said, looking a tad confused. "Yeah, why is that? Wouldn't clothes be considered a physical object?"

"I imagine." The Doctor began, everyone turning their attention to him. "That it's an echo."

"Echo?" Donna questioned.

"Yes. A spirit, or soul, or entity, or whatever you want to call it. Is basically just a projection of your physical form. So whatever you look like when you pass is essentially echoed into the, well wherever it is you go. So if you were to die wearing a party hat and flippers, you're going to be in a party hat and flippers for your entire... afterlife." The Doctor's tone was almost disbelieving as he finished explaining, like he couldn't believe that he was actually discussing an afterlife as fact. But he was a man willing to be convinced, and both Jack and Owen seemed to have had glances at something beyond physical life. And they were the walking dead, not him. So it was possible that there actually was more to life than originally conceived.

"Too bad Jack couldn't just grab hold of him and yank him back." Owen commented in a bored manner from where he sat that the end of the table, looking at the pizza in longing manner.

"But i have no form there either, i can't grab him." Jack said but doubted anyone heard him, because at the same time as he spoke the Doctor jumped up excitedly.

"Exactly! Exactly!" He said in a joyous tone, making his way quickly out of the room. Stopping only long enough to kiss Owen on the forehead happily. "Brilliant!" He said to the other man before running out of the room.

"Oi!" Owen exclaimed in an indignant fashion, rubbing his hand across his forehead where he had been kissed. "Wait, what'd i do?" He called, as everyone else hurried to follow the Doctor who was down in the medical bay pulling things from cupboards and shelves, placing them down on the exam table in the middle of the room.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Donna asked when they had all made their way to the theater, standing around watching the frantic doctor work.

"Like he said." He pointed at Owen. "Jack can grab Ianto and bring him back, Jack can work like the crystal." He explained in a hurried manner.

"I have no physical form there." Jack said once again.

"Oh what's a little form, i scoff at physicality!" The Doctor quipped.

"You may, but i don't." Jack said, looking a little confused.

"Yes, but what if i can give you just enough mass to carry him back."

"Can you do that?" Gwen asked, sounding cautiously optimistic.

"Sure!"

"How?" Tosh questioned.

"Oh, because i'm brilliant. Just watch." The Doctor beamed, before setting to work.

It wasn't long before the eccentric Time Lord was done with his self proclaimed brilliance and stood in the middle of the hub holding a syringe in his hand, speaking to the group of people like a college lecturer.

"This is thousands of years ahead of anything on earth right now, but i think it'll do the trick. It has in it, for lack of a better term, a lighten agent."

"A lighten agent?" Owen piped up disbelievingly.

"Hey, don't write it off just yet. This could save your friend." The Doctor chastised, causing Owen to look a little uncomfortable.

"Anyway, like i said earlier. Essentially what goes to the other side is an echo, which is why you can't touch anything. But what if i made the echo stronger?"

"Like taking more of your physical mass with you." Tosh said, looking completely enamored in what the Doctor was attempting to explain.

"Exactly!" He said in an excited way. "It should mean that you'd have enough solidity to carry Ianto back." He told Jack. "But we don't want you to echo too far in, because you could possibly disappear here and reconstitute there as perfectly solid human on the other side. Which would be, well bad. So the agent's on a timer basically, around the five minute mark it'll get heavy. Really heavy. Like fifty pound of lead dropped into your bloodstream at once kind of heavy. Which should be enough to pull you back, no matter how much you've projected into the dark. As long as you're not projected in fully, we should be okay."

"Should? Doctor, just how sure are you about this?" Jack asked.

"Oh a hundred percent sure. Well, eighty-nine. Sixty, fifty! Eh, forty-five." The Doctor stumbled over his percentages, which in turn caused Jack to shoot him a exasperated look.

"Forty-five!? Jack, that's crazy. You can't do this!" Gwen said, panicked.

"Jack, it's your only chance." The Time Lord said seriously, looking that Jack.

"Okay." Jack said, holding the Doctor's unwavering gaze. "I'll do it."

Comments are love. Love it? Hate it? Want to beat me over the head with the J/I hockey stick of doom? Let me know ^_^

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 7 - Part 8